Wi-Fi Can Do More: Toward Ubiquitous Wireless Sensing

The next big deal for Wi-Fi is not about communication and networking, but sensing. Wireless sensing technology is turning a Wi-Fi device into a ubiquitous sensor, which not only adds a brand new dimension to the functions, capabilities, and applications of all Wi-Fi systems, but also revolutionizes how sensing, especially human-centric sensing, is practiced. Wi-Fi sensing utilizes ambient Wi-Fi signals to analyze and interpret human and object movements, underpinning many sensing applications including motion sensing, sleep monitoring, and fall detection, among others. These new sensing functionalities can benefit the global Wi-Fi ecosystem including integrated circuit manufacturers, device manufacturers, system integrators, application developers, and ultimately end users. In this article, we introduce the concepts, principles, and challenges of Wi-Fi sensing, and share our unique technologies that have been massively deployed for real-world applications. We foresee that Wi-Fi sensing will enter billions of devices and millions of homes, creating a smarter space for a smarter life. Today is just the beginning of this revolution. © 2017 IEEE.